


We Share One Heart

by QueenHarleyQuinn



Category: Warcraft (2016), World of Warcraft
Genre: Happy Ending, Hurt/Comfort, It's okay in the end, Love Confessions, M/M, Self-Doubt, Self-Esteem Issues, Self-Hatred, poor anduin
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-26
Updated: 2016-07-26
Packaged: 2018-07-26 23:08:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,070
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7594024
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/QueenHarleyQuinn/pseuds/QueenHarleyQuinn
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"Khadgar knelt before Lothar, as if they were in a grand throne room and not a dusty, but still grand, library. With both knees firmly planted on the soft rug and his hands folded in his lap Khadgar felt like a child. But it was better than feeling like he had stolen Lothar’s pride."</p>
<p>- The night after Lothar is crowned, Khadgar finds the King Regent in his spot of the library. That night they share one heart.</p>
            </blockquote>





	We Share One Heart

When Khadgar entered the library toward the middle of the night, he expected he’d be alone. No - he _believed_ he would be alone. He would have gambled on it. Had he taken the bet, he would have lost.

Khadgar thought, for a split moment, that maybe he should turn around and pretend not to have seen the commander at all. It wouldn’t be easy, given that they had made eye contact for agonizing seconds, but it would be better than intruding on something that Khadgar had no right on seeing.

But when you find _The Lion of Azeroth_ in (what you consider to be) _your spot_ in the library, crying silent tears, you figure it can’t be an accident. Or, at least Khadgar figures that. He’s spent a good bit of time claiming that particular corner as _his_ , moving one of the cozier chairs closer to the window, creating a stash of blankets for when he did inevitably fall asleep there. Lothar knew that’s were Khadgar preferred to be, so perhaps he wanted Khadgar to find him.

Lothar sat with his elbows digging into his knees, a palm pressed into each eye, as if to _shove_ the tears back inside him. The crisp, blue glow of the moon and the night sky competed with Khadgar’s flickering candle, both washing Lothar in low light.

“Lothar,” Khadgar drew the name out. He had no idea what to say next. He set his candle on a nearby table and then placed his hand on Lothar’s shaking shoulder.

The commander looked up at Khadgar, his eyes raw from tears. Khadgar had never seen a man so broken, so completely wrecked by war and loss and bitter betrayal. His stomach churned - it felt wrong for someone so powerful to look up at Khadgar like that. 

Khadgar knelt before Lothar, as if they were in a grand throne room and not a dusty, but still grand, library. With both knees firmly planted on the soft rug and his hands folded in his lap Khadgar felt like a child. But it was better than feeling like he had stolen Lothar’s pride.

“Get up, mage.” Lothar rasped with a salt-water raw voice. Khadgar did not move. Instead he dug his nails inside his palm as not to do something stupid like reaching up and caress his King’s face. “I said, get up.”

“With all due respect, no.”

“You’re a stubborn bastard.”

Khadgar rolled his eyes. “And you’re not?” He questioned a little harsher than intended. He looked down at his hands, at the crescent indentations on his palm, feeling like he had just kicked a helpless kitten. “Talk to me, Lothar.” Khadgar pleaded, looking up into Lothar’s eyes. In the mixed, nearly ethereal, light, Khadgar swore he saw constellations in Lothar’s eyes. The galaxies dripped down his face.

Lothar wiped his shame away. The galaxies no longer shone on his cheeks. He sucked in a shaking breath, “I have no heart, Khadgar.”

Khadgar, like most things that night, did not anticipate that confession. He’d never heard Lothar say anything like it before. He reached out and placed a hand on Lothar’s knee. Lothar winced and looked out toward the night sky.

“Of course you do, Lothar.”

“I gave my heart away and when Cally passed, only half of it returned,” Another twinkling tear fell. “And then Called died and it split in half again. And then the same with Medivh. The same with Llane. There’s nothing left, Khadgar.”

Khadgar shook his head, “That’s not true. What about Taria, her children. They love you. They need you. The kingdom needs you too.”

_I need you_ , he thought but didn’t dare to say. Instead, Khadgar moved his hand back to his lap.

“They’re stuck with me, there’s a difference. I’m a warrior, not a King. I don’t know how to do this.” Lothar looked away from the window and at Khadgar.

“We’ll help you.”

“Oh, like you’ve been trained in court procedures.”

Khadgar ignored his bitter remarks. “You are _my_ King. I will stand by you, I will help you. When you call, I will come.” There was a slight possessiveness in the words but Khadgar wouldn’t take them back, wouldn’t change the way they were spoken, for anything.

Lothar swallowed hard. “Can’t you see how unworthy I am? I am nothing, Khadgar. Nothing. Just an old man. Just a ghost roaming the halls.”

Khadgar couldn’t take it anymore, couldn’t stand to hear Lothar say such things about himself. Sparkling tears of his own ran down Khadgar’s face. “You’re not nothing. I love you, you exasperating moron! How can you say you have no heart when you hold mine in your hands.”

His words echoed against bookshelves, bouncing back toward his chest. He gasped, not quite believing that he had said any of that. Surely Lothar would tell him to leave, tell him that he was no longer welcome in Stormwind. Tell him that he never wanted to see Khadgar again.

Again, Khadgar was wrong. Lothar leaned forward on his chair, his hand cupped Khadgar’s cheek. His thumb wiped Khadgar’s tears away. Khadgar, deprived of affection for so many years, leaned into his palm. His eyes closed at the touch. “Khadgar,” The mage opened his eyes, and Lothar’s face was suddenly much closer to his own. “If I have any heart left, it would belong to you.”

Khadgar’s voice got caught in his throat. “If you really believe that you don’t have a heart, Lothar, then you can share mine.” Lothar smiled at that, really smiled. Despite the wetness that welled in his eyes, despite the sadness that lurked in his chest.

Khadgar sat up, leaned forward and pressed his lips against Lothar’s. They kissed slowly with tentative lips and nervous tongues. Khadgar’s hands swam through Lothar’s hair. They pulled apart and breathed the same air.

“Will you please get up now?” Lothar asked, patting his lap. Khadgar chuckled and rose up before straddling Lothar’s thighs. Lothar wrapped strong arms around Khad’s waist. They leaned their foreheads together. Khadgar anointed Lothar with kisses - lips touching his brow, his nose, each cheek, his neck. Their hearts beat together, joining and overlapping one another. With stunted breaths Lothar whispered repeatedly, “I love you, I love you, I love you.”

Khadgar did not sleep in the library that night. And that night, as for all the nights to follow, they shared one heart.

**Author's Note:**

> I just really like the idea of Khadgar bowing before Lothar, making himself small at the commander's feet.


End file.
